Outdated intel likely led to deadly U.S. strike on Iranian elementary school, sources say
Key Takeaways
- Outdated intelligence likely caused a deadly missile strike on an Iranian elementary school
- Preliminary investigation found a U.S. munition probably responsible for the strike
- NBC cited a U.S. official and three sources for the preliminary findings
Main findings and toll
Outdated intelligence likely led to a deadly missile strike on an elementary school in Iran, according to a U.S. official and three sources familiar with the preliminary findings.
“Outdated intelligence likely led to a deadly missile strike on an elementary school in Iran, according to a U”
The investigation found that an American munition was probably responsible for the strike, NBC News reported, though the military is yet to formally conclude the United States is responsible.
More than 170 people, mostly children, were killed in the Feb. 28 strikes on the Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school in Minab on the first day of the U.S. and Israeli strikes against Iran, part of a barrage of attacks that also killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Intelligence and targeting breakdown
The ongoing investigation has so far found that the munition did not go off target, but rather hit the school because old intelligence showed it to be a military target, the four sources said.
Witnesses and an Iranian Education Ministry official said the school was located on a compound that was a base for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps until about 15 years ago.
The Defense Intelligence Agency was one of the agencies responsible for providing targeting information that could have led to the school strike, though other sources likely contributed to verifying the target, including intelligence from U.S. allies.
The U.S. official said the Defense Intelligence Agency gathered the intelligence and at the time found the targets to be valid, and that it is not clear where in the target selection process a breakdown occurred that may have caused the likely U.S. hit on the school.
Weapon evidence and Israel
The U.S. official said Israel was involved in the process to select the targets that led to a likely U.S. strike on the school.
“Outdated intelligence likely led to a deadly missile strike on an elementary school in Iran, according to a U”
Missile fragments purported by Iranian state media to have struck the school bear the markings of an American Tomahawk missile, according to experts who reviewed the imagery, obtained by NBC News and others.
The U.S. is the only country currently involved in the conflict that uses Tomahawk missiles.
NBC News has reached out to the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., which had no immediate comment.
Responses and legal concern
President Donald Trump has previously denied that the U.S. was behind the strike, and suggested without evidence that Iran or “other countries” could be responsible.
“In my opinion, based on what I’ve seen, that was done by Iran,” he told reporters onboard Air Force One.
“Whatever the report shows, I’m willing to live with that report,” Trump said when pressed.
A group of United Nations experts warned that an "attack on a functioning school during class hours raises the most serious concerns under international law," noting that "intentional attacks on educational buildings" are considered war crimes.
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